Five toddlers received their GoBabyGo! vehicles at Third Friday and showed them off before taking them home.
Edgewood Project Lead The Way teacher Abbi Richcreek said the kids were able to ride the Jeeps around and “we’re going to be educating parents and guardians of how it works.”
Friday was the culmination of a two-month process where 16 EMS seventh- and eighth-grade students worked in teams with 15 mentors from Dalton, Grace College, DePuy and Paragon Medical. During GoBabyGo! students modify 12-volt vehicles for toddlers that have developmental disabilities.
There were at least six work sessions for mentors and students to work on the Jeeps and “we have been designing, building, redesigning, building. This is a complete process. And we also had a try-it night which we held about a month ago” and students were able to see if the modifications were able to work for the toddlers receiving the Jeeps, Richcreek said.
The toddlers were all smiles Friday and eager to get into their Jeeps, she said.
On Friday, Richcreek said, students who worked on the Jeeps were able to see the impact they’ve made.
She said she wants the students to know they can make a positive difference in someone’s life.

    Five toddlers received their Jeeps from the GoBabyGo program Friday. Pictured are the toddlers, team members and mentors who worked on the Jeeps. Photo by Jackie Gorski, Times-Union
  

Edgewood Principal JoElla Hauselman said the GoBabyGo! program is one of her favorite things “we do at Edgewood. The kids, the community, helping others. And it always chokes me up every time I watch them drive these cars. It’s a great moment. And then you see all their surrounding family. It’s a great moment.”
Jessica Caswell, from Johnson and Johnson, said she was one of the mentors and worked on the Jeep for Faye Kreft and thought it worked out great. Kreft had a huge smile on her face.
Caswell said she hopes Kreft is able to take walks with her family and is able to enjoy the upcoming warm months with them.
Edgewood student Bayleigh Sleeth said it’s a freeing moment for the toddlers and thought it was sweet. This is the second year Sleeth has worked on GoBabyGo! Jeeps and said it helps her with things like communication skills.
Edgewood student Abby Richard said the GoBabyGo! program is a fun experience and if someone has the opportunity to be part of the program, they should because they can make a difference in a lot of people’s lives.
She also thought it was fun because you can spend weeks with a group building a Jeep and then you can celebrate it. She liked working on the lights of the Jeep “because my little hands helped me get into all the small places that everybody else couldn’t get.”
Richard said Eliza Pontius seems to have a need for speed “and just wants to go. She wants to GoBabyGo!”
Mother Jessica Pontius said the program has been a great experience and Eliza loves being let go, so this is right up her alley.